Just before writing this article, I finished teaching a series of data center classes over a two week period. It covered the basic elements of data center design and examining more recent advancements driven by energy efficiency, as well as delving into cooling and power systems. The course begins with a summary of the data center in the age of the mainframe and punch cards, and why they were the original drivers of very tight environmental requirements, and then examines the developments that led up to ASHRAE’s X-Factor. The X-factor, released in 2011, projects relative IT failure rates vs operating temperature. It postulates that modern equipment has become much more rugged and can endure free cooling over a wide temperature range from direct outside air with minimum impact on overall relative annualized reliability.
While I have taught these classes many times over the past several years, by the end of the class this time it suddenly struck me that stepping back from the technical aspects of the material, there appears to be a potential dichotomy developing. As IT hardware and software continues to evolve (presumably forward) is the data center facility moving forward with it or perhaps backward?